It's been a couple of weeks since the BCN Marathon, and I still seem to be in one piece (although I've seen an inversion of GCT balance at faster paces since then, so I'll have to keep watch on my left leg).
I had the idea of going for a 3h15 pace, but like the idiot that I am, I felt pretty good at the start (and apparently, forgot about the almost 3 years of my feet as the race started) and pushed to 3h08 pace. To tell the truth, I was really comfortable for the first 30km, but then the combination of heat, lack of proper training and oxygen debt came back to collect their dues, and had to slow down quite a bit. Managed a 3h20 finish time (faster than the last one by 7' at least) but I'm pleased all the same - I just love running long distances.
The new course was alright I guess. The starting line is near Plaça Catalunya and the finish line is very close to the one of the Half Marathon. It's has a longer triple S section just at the start, so it's mostly concentrated on the right side of Barcelona. This means that while the total amount of ascent is just slightly less, there are three noticeable changes 1) We now go downhill on Paral·lel 2) The uphill sections are more spaced out 3) Meridiana (one of the tougher stretches on the previous course) is very much reduced. Of course there are downsides: the coming-and-going of Diagonal Mar continues to be a staple, and we run near the coast twice (which sucks if you are not elite due to sun and wind). Still, it's a faster enough that I think once the construction work near Plaça Espanya and the Venetian Towers (the old start and finish) is done, they won't go back to the old course.
Right now I'm following Paladino's level 4 10K plan to get ready for a 10K on the 26th of May, since there won't be any long races until after summer. After that the first half marathon is in September I think, so if everything goes well I'll start a full HM plan at the beginning of summer.
